What's In The Sky Tonight?

Clear Sky Charts For The B.C. Interior

The charts below are predictions for 'seeing' conditions at various locations throughout BC.Click on a chart below for additional details on how to interpret the chart information.

Night Sky Observing For Beginners

WHAT DO YOU NEED?As a beginning observer you don’t need a lot of fancy equipment. In fact your eyes will do just fine for observing the constellations, and if you have a pair of binoculars those will be useful for observing features on the Moon. Most calendars list the phases of the moon as well, which is handy for Moongazing, or for planning on the darkest night for stargazing.

You will want to have a stargazing guide on hand to help you locate the constellations. For the beginner, I recommend “Exploring the Night Sky: The Equinox Astronomy Guide for Beginners “ by Terence Dickinson. This is available in our public library or at local bookstores. Another wonderful resource book is “The Nature Company Guides Skywatching” by David H. Levy.

For Moongazers, the “New Atlas of the Moon” by Thierry Legault and Serge Brunier, helps you get up close and personal with our closest celestial neighbour. On the internet, a very helpful site is "The Full Moon Atlas: Lunar Navigator” at www.lunarrepublic.com/atlas/index.shtml

Last, you will need a fairly dark place and a clear night to explore the night skies . For stargazing, wide and dark skies are the ideal. Pick an night near the new Moon, or when the Moon has set. For Moongazing, the best viewing is when the Moon is a crescent, not full. Light pollution in cities can be an advantage to the beginning observer, because only a few dozen of the brightest stars of the constellations will be visible. Try your back yard away from the street lights, or your local school yard or park. Later, find a spot out of town for the darkest skies and enjoy the spectacular glory of 3,000 stars. LOCATING THE CONSTELLATIONSThe constellations are groups of stars which ancient peoples decided looked like various people or animals, often characters in ancient stories. The stars, as in the Big Dipper, may look like they belong together, but usually are in vastly different planes, and simply form particular patterns as we view them from Earth. Be warned that most of the constellations don’t look anything like eir names! There are a few that are recognizable, however. The Big Dipper does indeed look like a ladle, and if you view it in dark enough skies you can see the head and legs which make it into Ursa Major, the Great Bear. Another constellation that looks like its name is Leo, the Lion, which resembles the Egyptian Sphinx, or crouching lion.

Constellations are often much bigger than you think. In a book they look small, but in reality many are as big as your widespread hand at arm’s length. Some examples: The Big Dipper is 2.5 hands wide, Cassiopeia is 2 hands , Orion is 1.5 hands.

Some constellations can be used as locators for other constellations. Nearly everyone knows how to find the Big Dipper, and it is in the sky all year round as it rotates around Polaris, the North Pole star. So this is a good starting point. As explained in the stargazing section of “Exploring the Night Sky”, use the Big Dipper to locate Polaris and the Little Dipper (Ursa Minor) hanging from it. From there you are ready to locate many constellations depending on the seasons:

In summer, from the Big Dipper (Ursa Major), locate Cassiopeia (the Queen), Cygnus (the Swan), Lyra (the Lyre), and Aquila (the Eagle)

In autumn, from Cassiopeia, you can locate Perseus (the Hero), Andromeda (the Chained Princess), and Pegasus (the Winged Horse).

In spring, from the Big Dipper, locate Bootes (the Herdsman), and Leo (the Lion).

In winter, the best locator constellation is Orion (the Hunter) which can be used to point to Auriga (the Charioteer), Taurus (the Bull), Canis Major (the Great Dog), and Gemini (the Twins). Winter is the best viewing time, since the stars seem to be extra bright at this time of year, if you can stand the cold!

MOONGAZERSThe New Atlas of the Moon is an outstanding guide to observing the moon from day to day. Did you know that the soil on our Moon is black, not white? That it is one-quarter the size of earth, roughly the size of an orange compared with a soccer ball? It is definitely worth taking a closer look at our only natural satellite!

First, check your calendar to find out the age of the Moon on your Moongazing night and then try some of these activities:

Spot the youngest sliver of the New Moon, less than a day old, a slim crescent low on the western horizon.

Watch for Earthshine on the day-old Moon, a spectacular crescent outlining the dim disk of the rest of the Moon. These unlit regions are lit at this time by light reflected off the Earth.

Draw an imaginary line joining the points of the crescent Moon. If this forms a “b”, the crescent is a baby Moon or waxing (growing) Moon. If it forms a “d”, it is a dying Moon or waning (shrinking) Moon.

As the Moon waxes or wanes, you will have the best opportunities to identify features near the shadow line, called the terminator. This is where a pair of binoculars will be handy. Observing the terminator in the early or late days of the Moon reveals a stunning view of rugged mountains, craters, and smooth plains. Some of the plains are so huge they are well known as features of the sad face of the “man in the moon”. These were called “mares” or “seas” by ancient observers, but we now know that these were craters blasted out by bombarding meteorites and asteroids and later filled with lava. Using the Atlas, identify Mare Imbrium and Serenitatis, the eyes, Mare Nectaris and Fecunditatis, the tears, and Mare Nubium, the open mouth.

When the Moon approaches full, it rises just as night is descending. Viewing it over the Eastern horizon with a background of trees or hills, it appears enormous. In fact this is an illusion. Our brain sees things differently when seen horizontally rather than overhead, and this effect is enhanced by a foreground of familiar objects. Yes, it looks three or four times larger than when it is high in the sky, but try placing your thumb (at arm’s length) over it in both locations as a quick measure and reminder that your eyes are playing tricks on you!

IS IT A PLANET OR A STAR?Stars twinkle because turbulence in the earth’s atmosphere interrupts their tiny streams of light coming from so far away. Planets do not twinkle because they are so much closer and therefore larger. Even though some of their light rays (actually reflected from the sun) may be interrupted, many others come through steadily to our eyes.Star Challenges:See if you can locate these especially bright stars:*In winter, follow Orion’s belt down to the left until you arrive at a brilliant star. This is Sirius, or the Dog Star, found in Canis Major (the Great Dog). It is the sky’s brightest star and is one of our near neighbours at only 8.7 light years from Earth. Ancient Egyptians used the rising of Sirius just before dawn in late summer as a signal that the Nile’s annual flooding was imminent. The Greeks believed that Sirius was responsible for the hot, humid “dog days” of September. In winter, Polynesians used Sirius as an important navigation tool.* In winter, follow Orion’s belt again, this time up and to the right until you arrive at a reddish star. This is Aldebaran, the red eye of Taurus, The Bull. It is an orange giant and in Inuit astronomy is called “The Spirit of the Polar Bear”.* Also in Orion, locate Betelgeuse, which forms the left shoulder. This is a variable star which changes in brightness over a few weeks. The right foot of Orion is lit by the mighty supergiant, named Rigel, which is derived from the Arabic for “foot”.* In summer and fall, locate our fourth brightest star, Arcturus, by joining the three stars in the handle of the Big Dipper and following the curving line to “arc to Arcturus”. This yellow-orange star is at the base of Bootes, the Herdsman.* In summer and fall skies look for three bright stars which form the huge Summer Triangle. Each star is part of a constellation: Vega, the fifth brightest star in the sky is found in the top right corner of Lyra, The Lyre. Altair is at the head of Aquila, the Eagle. Deneb forms the tail of Cygnus, The Swan, and is by far the most distant star of the Summer Triangle.Planet Challenges:The sun and planets follow a path through night sky known as the ecliptic. They appear to move through 12 constellations during the year. These are famous in astrology as the Zodiac.The brightest planet in our sky is Venus, also known as the Evening “Star” or the Morning “Star”. Venus is a brilliant feature of the western sky after sunset for approximately 263 days a year. It is easily identified as a round white disc which doesn’t twinkle. Another 263 days is spent in the morning sky. It is not visible for 58 days, making a total cycle of 584 days. When this planet transitions from Evening Star to Morning Star, it is possible to view both in one day, a rare event! This occurred on March 27, 2009.

WHAT ABOUT THOSE FUZZY AREAS?Two fuzzy areas in the night sky are easily spotted with the naked eye, and provide a fascinating sight through binoculars:*The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters, is the most famous open star cluster in the sky. It is part of the constellation, Taurus, and forms the bull’s shoulder. Follow Orion’s belt upward to the right, through the red eye of Aldebaran, and straight on to the Pleiades.*The Orion Nebula is one of the marvels of the night sky, plainly visible to the naked eye in a dark sky, and easily seen with binoculars in the city. Look below Orion’s belt for this nebula forming the central “star” of Orion’s sword. This is a cloud of gas and dust, the birth and death place of the stars.OUR GALAXY – THE MILKY WAYEarth is located in a flat spiral galaxy with a wide bulge in the center. Our galaxy is known as the Milky Way (galaxias is Greek for “milky”). It contains around 200 billion suns, many obscured from our view by clouds of dust and gas. We are located on one of the spiral arms, called the Orion Arm. The Milky Way is best viewed in very dark skies, out of the city. It is an unmistakable and awesome river of stars running in winter through Orion, Auriga, Perseus and Cassiopeia and in summer through the Summer Triangle.

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